Emergence of bacterial resistance to known antibacterial agents is becoming a major challenge in treating bacterial infections. One way forward to treat bacterial infections, and especially those caused by resistant bacteria, is to develop newer antibacterial agents that can overcome the bacterial resistance. Coates et al. (Br. J. Pharmacol. 2007; 152(8), 1147-1154.) have reviewed novel approaches to developing new antibiotics. However, the development of new antibacterial agents is a challenging task. For example, Gwynn et al. (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2010, 1213: 5-19) have reviewed the challenges in the discovery of antibacterial agents.
Several antibacterial agents have been described in the prior art (for example, see PCT International Application Nos. PCT/US2010/060923, PCT/EP2010/067647, PCT/US2010/052109, PCT/US2010/048109, PCT/GB2009/050609, PCT/EP2009/056178 and PCT/US2009/041200). However, there remains a need for potent antibacterial agents for preventing and/or treating bacterial infections, including those caused by bacteria that are resistant to known antibacterial agents.
The inventors have surprisingly discovered nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds with antibacterial properties.